Car insurance claim

jesmin45

someone reversed their car into mine yesterday, i was stationery at the time (hand brake on), in a car park waiting to park and the car in front reversed straight into the front of mine, she basically slammed it into reverse and never looked behind her! She gave me her details and she took a photo of the damage to my car. I went straight home and rang my insurers, almost immediatley I received a call to say I had a valid claim from her insurers for both car and personal injury, this was from Minster insurance, although my insurance is thru marks and spencer. i gave them all the details and she said i will receive a call from drive assist and also from a personal injury lawyer. My insurance policy permits a courtesty car and this morning i reveived a call from drive assist who went thru all details and said i can claim a courtesty car thru them, basically i will enter into a credit agreement which will be compensated thru the other persons insurance and if my insurance company rings me for infor i have to pass the details onto drive assist and they will deal with all questions etc. I am now waiting for the confirmation email from drive assist but just want to check with anyone who can help whether this is the right thing to enter into, having never been in this situation before, thanks

InsideInsurance

It is not a courtesy car, a courtesy car is a car given to you by the garage doing the repairs. What you are talking about is a hire car that is being provided to you on a credit basis.

I would bet almost anything that it is not her insurance that has contacted you in connection with Drive Assist! Credit hire is charged at a very high rate and whilst some companies that offer credit hire also do non-credit hire which insurers can use to provide TPs with replacement vehicles they wouldnt then discuss about credit terms.

M&S is just a white label of BSIL (Budget insurance) who are a broker and certainly do have Minster/ Groupama on their panel. I would consider it more likely that it is your insurer that has been in contact with you as they will get a nice back hander from Drive Assist and the Personal Injury solicitor for making the referrals.

If you search for Drive Assist on here you will find enough comments about them

jesmin45

mmm don't like the sound of that! thanks for the reply, maybe I should hire a car myself whilst mine is being repaired and recoup this from the other side but only when they have admitted full liability? luckily there is 24hr cctv in the car park. i really dont no what to do

Quentin

If you know the third party's insurer, ring them and see if they have a "innocent third party" claim dept.

If so, see if they want to help you with hire car, repairs etc.

(But if you have an injury, then probably best to stay as you are, to make use of your own PI lawyer)

chanz4

personal injury, you were stationary and would of been a very low speed bump....

sarahg1969

You only have a valid claim for personal injuries if you have been injured.

If you've not experienced any pain yet, you may have been lucky and got away without any injuries, particularly as this was an impact to the front of your car, as opposed to the rear, so the mechanics were different from the standard rear-ender that can cause whiplash. And, of course, you would have seen her coming, so had time to brace yourself.

Hopefully, you've got away without injuries, and can deal with getting the car fixed.